Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-11
IALABAMA'S ELDORADU.

XAAIA1 ~ la ~ LII ~ Il ~
Stories oil Fortunes MAZDA Ab ut Biz.
mingnAm and Shf fl sId-Penn-
sylyAnia Vss Alabama.
How a Postal Clerk Turned $500 Tnto
$500, OOO-The Banks and the Build
ing Associations.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8.-The Alabama
Congressman are full of the possibilities
Of the new south. They confidently
expect Alabama to outrival Pennsylvania
as q manufacturing state, aud their
stories of the changes which are going on
about Birmingham are like those Of the
Arabian Nights Representative
James Taylor Jones, who lives N dWay
| between the iron district and Mobile,
visited Birmingham and Sheffield about
three weeks ago. He tells me that people
are rushing to this district by thousands
/ from al states Of the Union and that for
tunes are being made IN a day. The hotels
ct Birmingham are crowded, and many
have been driven away because theT could
not find accommodations for Themselves
and families. "Why," said he, "i1 the
Birmingham hotels you will see the offices
( flied al night with men sleeping in Ch&irs,
and they pay for their accommodations,
too. Birmingham has increased to seven
times its original size within six years. Ia
/ 1880 it had but 1000, and it has nJW
population of 80 900. Il has eleven large
! furnaces in full blast, and thirteen more
which will be built this year. II has
manufacturing works of all kinds,
and new factories are rushing
there as fast Gs they can be
accommodated. The big Albany stove
works lately moved there with all the
plant, and the Baxter stove works of
Louisville, largest establishment of its
kind in the southwest, is now at Birm-
ingham. Then there are pipe works, en-
glne works and machine works for the
making of cotton gins. They have
chain foundry at Albany, winch makes
chains OF ali kinds, from those large
enough to hold the Great Eastern to
those small enough for a poodle dogs
chain. There are three NatiOCal banks
now in Birmingham, and they are run
ming over with deposits. The First Ma
tional bank has $500, 900 of capital, and
its deposits will amount to $l,5O0, coo.
The Alabama National back has lately In
creased its capital from $500, 900 TO $780,
600, and it has vast deposits. 1t is the
same with the other national hanks, and
there is another bank whiCh;I know of
which began last fall with 500 600 cap
ital and by December had 100000 Of de-
posits. Money is coming in from all
over the Union. It comes IN lots Of all
sizes, with the general Instructions 10 put
it where is will do the most good"
CHOW about the rates of interest -
"The rates # interest ale low. The
legal rate Of the STATE is per cent, but
ven can met all you want on good security
a s, ana there IS no lack of funds. The
investments are not, however, limited to
nOrthernerS. \ great deal of southern
capital is being used, ana the speculation
fever hG5 captured the state Of Alabama.
People are rushing from ali parts Of the
state to Birmingham and Sheffield, and
the boom st these points is rapidly eE
tending TO others over the state"
"The examples of fortunes made are
numerous. | have yet TO hear of a single
man who has lost money by investing il.
| can give number of instances of men
fortunes [ know a postal clerk who
went to Birmingham about five months
ago with $500. He is now worth $780,
600, and he is director in some large
corporations. A country doctor who
lived in my district had g very hard time
to get along. He was in debt SII00. He
borrowed $4,000 from loan association,
and after paying off this debt took the
extra 5000 and with few cattle which
he owned drove to near Birmingham.
This was several years 6go. He bought
with his 5000 a 2O0-acre farm of marsh
land, intending TO turn it into
a dairy farm. He had owned it only two
years when the railroad companies wanted
site for a machine shop and gave him
$40, 900 for one-third Of it. Another &C
quaintance Of mine, wOoden-legged
man named Randolph, q son cf Captain
Randolph Of the navy, had no money, and
his sole possessions when he went to
Birm-ngham were $500. That was q year
VI two a.LO II pat his $500 into BIZ
min ham q, ard he lately sold it out
for $50, pas
at is wontvI;u. &ow high the prices OF
lots arc ii Birmingham. They sell
almost as high as III washington, and
the prices keep on risi"g. l saw land
sell Tor $1,000 Il fr~nL foot, and a num-
her uf improved los cell for $780,
0GO q lot. The buildings winch are going
up are Of the finest kind, GGd there will
DE an immense building boom in the
spring. They have formed building as
sOciatiOns, not for the loanilg Of money
to build, but merely for the putting up Of
buildings to sell. These associations
will in en- incredibly short space Of time
/ bald you anything you want, from O
/ house which costs $500 10 one that costs
$500, coo. They are making great prepa-
rations Tor the spring, and as soon as the
mild weather cOmes whole squares or
blocks of houses will 60 up almost as
fast as Aladdin's palace, which was built
in 8 night.
"Tell me something of tae wonderful
resources Of this region"
"Its resources are coal and iron in
practically ineXhaustible quantities, To-
Gated near together and near to great
fields OF limestone, so that the materials
for making iron and steel are close to
each other. Standing or the stoop of the
Birmingham hotel, three-quarters Of g
mile away from you on one hand you may
see mountain of the finest iron. Turn
your eyes in another direction, and be-
fore you, st no greater distance from you
than the iron, are fields of coal which
are fitted for the production of iron
and which contain enough coal to
make two-thirds and more Of the
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